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Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Model number: DX4200-09 | SKU: 9156478

A built-in double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, 15-in-1 media card reader and Labelflash technology combine in this powerful desktop to provide you with a wide range of entertainment options and flexible operation.Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1 preloaded Which Windows Vista edition is right for you? Compare. Free Windows 7 upgrade.Learn more.Learn more about the AMD Phenom™ X4 quad-core processor.

Average Customer Rating:

4.2 out of 5 (87 Reviews)

72 of 87 (83%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Review 41 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

really good for upgradeing 05/01/2009
By ccmil from charlotte

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Reliability

4.0 5

What's great about it: plays games like oblivion at max graphics
What's not so great: power supply

"it is a very good computer for upgradeing. all i had to do was throw a power supply (550W) and a new graphics card (Nividia Geforce 9800 GTX 1GB GDDR3) and i was good to go but also kinda of a bad system bus. has 4 ram slots ( 2 that are upgradeable) i am eventually upgradeing to 8 gb system ram again cause i want an ultimate gaming computer. also putting a blu ray disk player in eventualy also dont belive als the stuff about vista it is good for gaming ive been using it since it came out and i love it so dont worry some games have problems but most are fixed with patches"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 42 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Overall Pretty Good Computer 04/21/2009
By ScorpioMaurus from Milwaukee, WI

Value for Price

4.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Reliability

4.0 5

What's great about it: Good onboard Graphics, 15 in 1 Card Reader
What's not so great: Vista Yuck!!

"When I first got it I had issues with installing most programs because Vista x64 is not completely compatible with most things. I would recommend using the included disc to do a completely fresh install of Vista x 32 (Which I am also not fond of but hate less than x 64) With Vista tuned properly it runs big games very well and the onboard graphics card is better than the one I bought to upgrade it lol, So obviously that went back to the store. I love the 15 in 1 card reader and the amount of space available, My previous PC had only 120GB of space so this one is awesome if you're a gamer since some games take up 10GBs of space or more all on their own. Spin Up time is decent and it doesn't take long to power up to the point where you can actually use it which is surprising since Vista uses up so much system resources. It does make a bit more noise than a smaller computer and it vibrates my desk slightly when it's loading something big like a game or movie or if it's ripping a CD. The power cords inside from the Power supply were hanging a bit and I had to open it to stop it from hitting the one fan but that's no big deal to me, But be warned if you hear an annoying clicking sound from within and nothing appears to be wrong on the monitor it could just be that the cords are hitting the fan and need to be moved to the side."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 43 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Best computer for the price 04/16/2009
By ernestb08 from San Juan

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Processor, Expansion Bays, RAM.....
What's not so great: Graphics Card; Power Supply

"I bought this computer from a developer's point of view. Cheap and be able to expand in every way possible. Good, Quiet and Cheap. I removed the OS and Upgraded with VISTA Business that same day. Dual booted it with Open SUSE and reloaded all the drivers and the only apps that I wanted. SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and other developer's programs. Everything woks like a charm. I loaded a demo of Call of Duty 4 and is slow on the graphics. No biggie, just upgrade the GC and Power Supply and I'll be back in business. I tend to keep my computers for a long time and get every dollar I can out of them, canavalize them and then give them to my kids so they can play around and learn. Its been 3 months since the purchase this PC and still not even the minor indication that it will go bad."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 44 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Gateway DX-4200-09 04/14/2009
By cbruffey021 from Ashburn, VA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: best bang for the buck
What's not so great: nothing

"I bought this computer a month ago to replace my gateway Core 2 Duo. Compared to other quad core computers it had the best price. I upgraded ram and power supply and this thing flys circles around my old machine.

Gaming is all i use thing computer for and its smooth 60fps compared to my old machines 4fps on user heavy servers is a huge plus for me.

Yea people that build computers can bash the AMD Phenom quad core processor compared to intels stuff but this computer cost me 500bux for the whole set up compared to intels low end quad core set ups that were going for 850 and up

I run the grapics settings as high as possible without a hickup in performance"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 45 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

More Bang for YOUR BUCK 04/13/2009
By Ausysheplvr from OHIO

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Quick and Easy Set UP!!
What's not so great: Big tower

"I wanted more bang for my buck and got it> Plus has ability to upgrade. With 3 teenagers a must have. Wont go back to DELL!! Gateway has came along way sence my first computer i bought. The keyboard and mouse are very solid GREAT COMPUTER"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 46 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Really Liking this but...... 04/07/2009
By asifgunz from Brooklyn NY

What's great about it: a quadcore at this price, its a catch
What's not so great: i dont know much about the power supply

"Hi,
got this comp 2 months ago. It really runs well and hope it does the same in the future. I was hoping if anyone could tell me about the power supply it has since I have NO idea on such subject. Any help would be appreciated."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 47 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Excellent Computer - Easy to Upgrade 03/29/2009
By rjvamp1971 from Brooklyn Park, MN

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Price, Easy to Upgrade, Performance as is, Performance even better with upgrades
What's not so great: 300 w power supply

"What is great? Price, Performance, Easy to Upgrade, Good base build.
What is not so great? 300 w power supply. Not tool free (but how many times do you really open up the computer?). DVD drive was a bit loud when spinning.

I wanted an excellent machine that I could upgrade with the BTG nvidia geforce 9800 GT OC (PCI Express x 16) card for World of Warcraft. When I got home, I realized the computer only had a 300 w power supply. So I went back to Best Buy and bought a BTG 550 w power supply.

What a difference a video card can make! My laptop was a 3.1 on the Windows Experience Rating. For gaming, you really want something above 5.0.

Windows Experience Rating before upgraded Video Card = 3.9
Windows Experience Rating after upgraded Video Card = 5.8

The scale is 1 - 5.9

Even if you are not going to upgrade the video card, this is still a fast and excellent computer. An excellent value."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 48 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

1.0 5

This opurchase was a waste of over $500 for me 03/26/2009
By tbyars from Killeen, TX

Value for Price

1.0 5

Features

1.0 5

Performance

1.0 5

Reliability

1.0 5

What's great about it: I really didn't get to use it long enough before failure to be impressed
What's not so great: Motherboard failure within 20 hours, TERRIBLE customer support

"I purchased a Gateway DX4200-09 at Best Buy on February 22 and installed it in my home the next day. I had very limited time on the machine, and the computer had under 20 hours of use.

On March 9, my wife attempted to boot the computer, and it wouldn't come on. After a call to Gateway support, it was determined that the onboard video had failed and the unit needed to be returned for service, which it was via FedEx on March 9.

For two weeks all I heard in response to my inquiries was that a replacement mother board is on back order.

This morning, March 25, I called Gateway customer support. My questions were 1) can't my hard drive just be mounted in a new machine or 2) can the unit, at this point, just be returned for refund. The support rep, who was quite rude, told me that I would get my computer back when it was fixed and not a day earkier. No other solution was possible. He told me it made no difference to him that the machine was defective while brand new, that was just the way it is, and if there was nothing else, the call was finished, and he hung up.

I have probably bought 50 computers over the years for home and business. This was my first Gateway, and the first time I have ever had an initial failure. The failure was multiplied many times over due to the terrible customer service

I have no faith in this computer ever coming back fixed and staying fixed. Frankly, there is so much buyer's remorse I have basically written off the $550 investment, and will replace it as soon as I can afford to do so. The replacement won't be a Gateway.

Please note that a conversation with our local Best Buy manager this morning was VERY productive, and he was quite interested in my service and support history over this incident. In fact, if Gateway didn't already have the computer, he offered to replace it with another unit of my choice at his cost. I hold Best Buy to no responsibility in this, and will gladly continue to do business with them.

I just won't ever buy another Gateway product from them, or anyone else."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Review 49 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Exactly what I expected/ Needed 03/23/2009
By mike527 from PA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Everything
What's not so great: Too quiet lol. No nothing

"This computer is exactly what I needed. I play some games on pc but mostly on ps3. want to start pc gaming more. perfect starter computer that has huge upgrad potential. for like 300 more dollars, it can be a near top of the line gaming computer. great buy for low budget. never had a hicup yet."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 50 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Pretty Good Machine 03/23/2009
By Anonymous from SoCal

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Easy setup and good price
What's not so great: Nothing so far...

"This is my 3rd Gatewayto replace one that was 10 years old. Had read prior comments about this one crashing and other problems so I bought 2 more gigs of memeory and had the Geek Squad install it and run full diagnostics on it BEFORE leaving the store to make sure there were no problems. It's been 3 weeks and so far everything is still working fine."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 51 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Excellent Machine 03/22/2009
By Rick104 from Richland,WA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

4.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: pretty much everything
What's not so great: integrated video no card

"So I was reading the review from cnet on this site and they gave it a rating of a 2, but then again they are calorically enhanced intellectual underachivers!!! So what if it is not as fast as an HP it wil last a hundred times longer without any HP cheap crashes, this is a very stable very good performing gateway, I purchased an HP IQ 775 last year and it exploded like the rest of there products! Thankfully it was under warranty, and so did my other two compaqs also a cheese ball HP product! Don't listen to cnets reviews,they are just paper shufflers on the other hand I have been a Electronics repair Technician for 25 years and know what generally fails, if you are an older guy like myself you will truly appreciate this unit I for one am very happy with its performance and speed, and dependability, if you buy this guy you will not be dissapointed!!!!!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 52 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

2.0 5

Not Worth It! 03/22/2009
By xGamer from Delaware

Value for Price

1.0 5

Features

2.0 5

Performance

2.0 5

Reliability

2.0 5

What's great about it: Nice Case
What's not so great: Cheap Parts

"After moving away from a Dell XPS, I found that the Foxconn Motherboard in this PC is not the same as the retail board. Dell and Gateway have the internals limited which means various things have been removed. The memory is just cheap @ 667MHZ. It's just a cheap manufactured PC. I custom built a pc for about the same price that is ten time faster that this one. My benchmarks tripled and I have all the features since I bought all retail parts. If you are a gamer or overclocker, Don't buy this!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 53 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

4.0 5

nice for 500 03/19/2009
By BBGuNWB from Everett, WA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

3.0 5

Reliability

4.0 5

What's great about it: value, HDMI out
What's not so great: locked down BIOS, no HD activity light.

"Got this for my wife to replace her 4 year old Home built PC. With a quality WD 640 GB AAKS hard drive, AMD 780G motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2 800 RAM this is a GREAT starter system for gaming (just add PSU and video card), or a quality system for all your basic home needs. Vista64 is a stable wonder - my first experience with it as all our other (home built) computers in the house (4) still use WindowsXP. While the power supply wattage is low, the brand, FSP, is a quality brand, unlike some of the other PSUs in computers of this type. HDMI out works great except that the computer speakers cut out and all sound comes from the monitor/TV speakers. I haven't found a way to change that in the drivers, yet. I added a wireless NIC with nary a hiccup and we've been running smoothly and quietly for a week. Only annoyance is the lack of a hard drive activity light. As a computer hobbyist, i wish Gateway would unlock their BIOS to allow processor overclocking, but understand their reasons for not doing so."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 54 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Solid performance so far 03/17/2009
By teeboo from St. Louis, MO

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

4.0 5

What's great about it: Super quiet, runs Vista very well
What's not so great: takes up more space than some desktops out there

"I found myself in the market for a new desktop when my old system died unexpectantly. I ended up buying this one because the price was good and it didn't seem underpowered. Also, I liked that it doesn't have one of those vertical dvd drives since they've always seemed akward.
I've had this for a few weeks now and I have no complaints. I must say I was not excited about using Windows Vista after hearing numerous horror stories, but this computer doesn't seem to have any problems with it. It's handled everthing quickly and flawlessly so far.
My only concern overall is the included LabelFlash. The discs seem harder to find and more expensive than LightScribe. It's not a feature I really care about but it might be something for others to consider."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 55 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Not bad for the price 03/15/2009
By Petet109 from Anchorage, AK

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Storage, Media reader, Firewire port, easy setup.
What's not so great: No indicator lights when HD or DVD is in use.

"I bought this as an addition to my Compaq Presario. I do video photography as a hobby and the Compaq does not have a firewire port for Sony iLink digital video transfer. I bought the Gateway to use exclusivly with my Studio 11 Plus video program. Studio runs perfect on this platform with the Vista 64 Quad core. It transfers my tapes and lets me process and burn them to DVD's without any delays. Without the indicator lamps on the DVD burner, I have no way of knowing when the burn starts or stops. I have to now rely on the software to tell me. So far no problems. Would be nice to have the indicatoirs. I have had other Gateway computers and they all have been trouble free so I expect this one to be the same. I bought this on line with in-store pickup and it was the easist thing to do. I was in and out in a few minutes."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 56 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Make sure the processor isn't 2 slow for ur needs 03/13/2009
By crazydavy2000 from Atchison, KS

Value for Price

4.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

2.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: HDMI, Large HD, 4 Gb Ram, Lots of expansion room, Plenty of ports
What's not so great: Not so good for full screen video

"I bought this pc with the intent of adding a tv tuner card and recording and streaming HD video to our living room pc. So far I haven't bothered because it can't play HD video on the 22 inch monitor I paired with it. I added a low cost video card that had twice the memory as the onboard shared memory and saw little improvement. At this point I'm thinking its the 1.8 Ghz processor that is causing it. I'm researching this and can't say 100% that it is the problem. That being said if I upgrade the processor and plus the video card it's still not a huge investment. It seems a shame to have a pc for 2 weeks and feel the processor isn't up to the task asked of it but because of the Vista Home premium 64 bit included, the large hard drive, 4 Gig of Ram and the expansion capabilties I still think its not bad for the money."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 57 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great desktop for a fantastic price 03/12/2009
By ninmeister from N. Tonawanda, NY

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Simple setup, runs beautifully
What's not so great: So far, nothing.

"I broke down and picked up this Gateway when my old AMD Athlon based desktop that I built 6 years ago up and died. After doing a ton of research I landed on this one. I made a fine choice. It runs like a champ, everything is snappy, and I even like the onboard video, as so far I've not found anything that it won't run decent. I also love the fact that it is easy to expand on the system, with 4 gigs more of open ram space and open PCI slots. For 509 dollars, this is a steal in my opinion!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 58 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Good bang for the buck! 03/10/2009
By harpman from Westerville,Ohio

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Fast,Quiet.HDMI output
What's not so great: nothing really

"Replaced my 7 year old hp. I have to say so far i've been impressed with this computer. Good multitasker...the HDMI output gives me 1680x1050 resolution.I had to call Gateway a couple times while setting this up being new to vista...they were great!...I'll try to say this without bashing a company...best customer support i have had in quite some time!... this alone has already made me a Gateway fan..if your into music,photos,and videos...i can't see anyone being dissapointed with this computer"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 59 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Good Computer 03/03/2009
By josh31887 from Owensboro, KY

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

5.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Seems like a lot of punch for the price
What's not so great: day 5 and nothing so far

"I bought this computer because my laptop lacked the power i needed for heavier applications like light gaming and photo editing. This computer seems to handle both of those well so far. Just want to put a graphics card in it for added power."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 60 for Gateway Desktop with AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processor

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Just what I needed! 03/01/2009
By ggmommie3 from Lynchburg, VA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Features

4.0 5

Performance

5.0 5

Reliability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Replaces a beloved Gateway from 1992
What's not so great: Drive for old Printer not available, Vista not accepting most software

"Just wanted a computer that didn't 'jar my preserves', which was happening with my older Gateway.

Had to familiarize myself with USB conversion for printer, which still doesn't work. But, once it got started, I couldn't be more pleased! Not a computer geek, but know my way around computers. So happy that I replaced the 'slow go' upgraded dino, with a faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, baby.

Now, I can see and talk to the great grand babies out of state, without the PC drama."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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